Paintball Laser Sight

The evolution of the game has been swift from its origins in the 70s to the modern game we know today. It all started with the paintball gun; the term “marker” is a much newer term introduced to make the sport more marketable to the masses. So, what is the history of this relatively new sport and how has it evolved over three decades?

The first paintball guns were used on cattle ranches in the 1970s to single out animals from the herd. James Hale, of Daisy manufacturing , invented a gun for this purpose.

This practice soon evolved into a game and the first ever recreational paintball game took place in June 1981 in New Hampshire, USA. A group of friends used Nel-Spot 007s to play a very basic form of the game over a massive area to capture the flag.

One of the earliest guns available was the Splat Master; it was made entirely of plastic. It could hold ten paintballs, was powered by small co2 cylinders and had a slow fire rate. The gun had to be tilted back to drop each paintball into the firing chamber and cocked by pushing a button on the handle.

The paintball game was first marketed by Charles Gaines, a writer, as National Survival Game- NSG. It started in a very primitive form with players working individually rather than in teams. As the game evolved over time, the rules became more sophisticated and teams became a matter of course. Different types of games sprung up, but the “capture the flag” principle was the most popular.

As the paintball game developed, so did the need for a more sophisticated gun. The pump action marker was introduced with its increased rate of fire.

Caleb Strong opened the first outdoor commercial paintball field in Rochester in 1982. Two years later he opened an indoor version in Buffalo. The development of the commercial industry allowed for more organised, tournament style games and interest in the sport accelerated. The games became more exciting as smaller fields made the action quicker.

The gun continued to evolve in line with the paintball game. As the need for speed increased, the introduction of the 12 ounce co2 tank with its constant air was a major breakthrough.This in turn led to the advent of the semi-automatic gun with its incredible fire rate. Then followed the electric hopper to cope with the fire power of the semi-automatics.

Private and commercial fields are everywhere today as the sport has attracted a huge following. Whilst most players will only ever compete at a recreational level, professional teams compete at a national and international level with prizes worth hundreds of thousands of  dollars. The National Professional Paintball League was founded in 1992 and is the major force in the professional tournament circuit.

Professional players today are using fully automatic computerized markers. The Angel was the first of its kind. It was equipped with a motherboard in the gun’s handle offering a selection of different modes of fire.

There is no reason to believe that the paintball game has completed its evolution. It has come a long way from the cattle ranches of thirty years ago, but it is fair to assume that the sport has not finished its journey just yet.

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Yes, the venerable Autococker. In the world of paintball, few other guns have the same level of legacy that the Autococker has. As a marker, it has spanned all eras of paintball history. Starting out as a pump gun in the form of the Sniper, and evolving all the way up to a a high end, tournament grade gun with todays high precision electronic versions. In this article, I will outline the basic steps on how this transformation occurred, and how it has changed the game of paintball.
In the beginning, there were pump guns. One of the most well respect of these pump guns was Bud Orr’s Sniper. With it solid, robust design, the Sniper proved to be a force to be reckoned with. Even in the pump gun days, the Sniper developed a reputation for accuracy and reliability.
Of course, the era of pump guns didn’t last forever. With the advent of semi automatic paintball guns such as the VM-68 and the Automag, it was clear that the days of pump guns in the mainstream of paintball were numbered. Bud Orr, ever inventive, set to tinkering. Since he already had a solid design with his Sniper, he set out to convert the design to a semi automatic.
To accomplish this, Orr devised an ingenious pneumatic system that would automatically actuate the pump on the Sniper when the trigger was pulled. It was this system that gives the Autococker its name, as it is simply an automatically pumped pump gun. Orr refined his design, and put it into production.
When the Autococker was first released, it quickly developed a reputation for being unreliable. This was due mainly to the complexity of the pneumatic system, which required a skill mechanic to set up properly. Also, many of the stock parts weren’t of extremely high quality, leading them to be replaced by aftermarket pieces. However, all this made the Autococker amazingly popular with tinkers, who took the gun as a platform for their own custom creations.
It was the aftermarket that really helped the Autococker take off. After a few modifications were made, the Autococker became a fast, accurate, and decently reliable paintball gun.
This helped it pick up momentum among paintball enthusiasts. Worr Games noted this popularity, and quickly began to improve the quality of the stock Autococker, which helped boost the guns popularity among recreational players. The Autococker had secured its niche in the paintball world.
However, things were changing in the paintball world. With guns such as the Angel, it became clear that electronic markers offered a serious speed advantage to serious players. The Autococker was slow in comparison, and began to loose ground among professional players. Of course, the tinkers weren’t unauware of this problem, and began to create electronic triggering systems for the Autococker. At first, these systems were plagued by ball chopping problems, but with the advent of electronic anti chop eyes and high speed loader systems, these problems were quickly solved. Electronic Autocockers became a common site in the professional circuit.
As time went on, simpler electronic markers began to dominate in many areas. However, the Autococker is still used by many who enjoy its unique feel, sound, and limitless configurability. It should be interesting to see what the future holds for this venerable marker.

The History Of Paintball

In this article i’m mainly going to show you some markers that have left their trace in the history of paintball. But first: A small introduction.

The first actual game of paintball took place in 1981, between 12 players using the Nelspot 007. The first game was a capture the flag scenario game. Trough the 80’s the sport of paintball started spreading . First it spread to England, Australia and South Africa. Some years later it reached Europe. In 1992 the NPPL was founded and the year after there was played 4 tournaments around the country. In 1996 the World Championships Of Paintball was produced and aired by ESPN.

The first company that made a marker was Nelson Paint Company, the marker was called the Nelspot 007 and was originally used to mark trees in the forestry business.The Nelspot 007 was a bolt action or pump action pistol powered by 12 gram Co2 cartridges. The gun could also be set up with a ASA to accept HPA or Co2.

The Splatmaster was a very economic choice because it only costed around 80$. It’s internals was pretty similar to the 007 but the body was made out of solid plastic (The 007 was all steel). It held 10 round tubes of 0.68 cal. ammunition.

The Tippmann 68 Special hit the market around 1990 and it was a big hit!

This is what Tippmann wrote about it: “We took our finest gun and put it on steriods. The result is the 68 special. A new hybrid weapon with proven Tippmann quality and reliability. It combines the ruggedness of the SL-68, the most durable gun we’ve ever built, and the speed of the SMG-60, the only full automatic CO2 paintball gun.The 68 Special is a true semi-automatic, not a double action with a new gravity feed system that eliminates ball breakage and double feeding. A 1/8″ light trigger movment lets you shoot as fast as you can squeeze off rounds. And a new liquid CO2 system that will shoot up to 200 rapid shots without loss of velocity. “

Now, things have changed and there are electric markers that shoot 20 balls per second. In USA alone, the number of paintball players is almost 10 millions. And the sport is still growing!

If you want to know more about older guns and the history of paintball check out this site: http://www.mcarterbrown.com/

Also, check out this vid from the paintball marshalls paintball museum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjC5VqHfM8

-Steffen Leinsvang

www.Soldierpaintball.com